Box Score CLARION, Pa. – Lionel Perkins's 3-pointer with 5.8 seconds left lifted visiting La Roche to a 55-54 win over Clarion Thursday night at Tippin Gym.
 
The Golden Eagles (0-2), who lost for the second straight game on a shot in the final six seconds, led by as many as 14, 43-29, five minutes into the second half before La Roche (1-0) used a 23-9 run to tie the game at 52 on a Joel McIntosh layup with 1:38 to play.
 
Clarion answered with a pair of Anthony Baker free throws with 27.5 left to go back ahead two, 54-52, but Perkins got free at the top of the key and buried the go-ahead three.
 
The Golden Eagles pushed the ball up court, but a 3-pointer by Marcus Jones as time ran out was off the mark.
 
Calvin Edwards led Clarion with 14 point, five rebounds and three assists, while Mike Kromka had 10 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Evan Battle added nine points, six rebounds and two assists in his first career start, while Baker also had nine points to go with five rebounds. Leonard Patterson chipped in with seven points.
 
Perkins led all scorers with 17 points off the bench for La Roche, while McIntosh added 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
Clarion led by 11, 32-21, at halftime after leading by as many as 13, 25-12, in the first half. The Golden Eagles shot 50 percent (13 of 26) in the half while holding La Roche to 19.4 percent (6 of 31).
 
But the second half switched around for the two teams, as the Redhawks shot 56 percent (14 of 25) in the half to Clarion's 30.8 percent (8 of 26).
 
Still, the Golden Eagles expanded the lead to 14 early in the half thanks to back-to-back baskets by Battle and Kromka with Kromka's coming at the 15:51 mark.
 
But Clarion made just one basket over the next seven minutes, a 3-pointer by Edwards at 10:52, to allow La Roche to get within one, 46-45, on a Jean Freeman jumper at 8:54.
 
The Golden Eagles seemed to stop the bleeding when they scored the next four points including an impressive offensive rebound and dunk by Kromka to take a 50-45 lead with 6:59 to play.
 
Once again, though, shooting failed Clarion, as the Golden Eagles didn't make a basket in the final 6:59 following a Patterson layup that gave them the 50-45 lead. Clarion also went just 4 of 7 from the free-throw line in the final 5:46 with Edwards, usually a reliable free-throw shooter, missing two at the 2:44 mark with Clarion up two, 52-50.
 
Clarion returns to action at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 27 when it hosts Houghton.
 
NOTES – Prior to the game, the Golden Eagles honored the late Scott Lang, who played for Clarion in 1991 and 1992 and was the head coach at La Roche at the time of his untimely death, Dec. 10, 2010 … The Golden Eagles are 0-2 for just the second time under 25-year head coach Ron Righter, the other being in 2008 when they started 0-3. It is just the 10^th time Clarion has been 0-2 since 1946 … Clarion failed to score 60 points for the second straight game, the first time that has happened since the 2009 season.